MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Be On the Lookout for More Open Access Books.

GtrsRGr8 · 01-03-2019, 10:21 PM

This is a newsy item, too, and I plan to post this or a modified version in the forum with "news" items (pending my checking the MobileRead rules to see if that kind of cross-posting is allowed).

Many of you may be aware of my love for OA (Open Access) books--OA now almost universally, if not universally, means free.

I failed to see this earlier, but since September 2018 there has been an initiative in Europe, called Plan S, to "mandate immediate open access (OA) to scientific literature." Sixteen funders in 13 countries have signed on, at last count.

Backers of this program have greater ambitions: "to convince the world's major research funders to require immediate OA to all published papers stemming from their grants." (Science magazine, Jan. 4, 2019, emphases mine, G (and, yes, the date is correct)).

If the works are produced under a grant, especially a government grant, I think that it is only fair that recipients of those grants make some kind of return. That's all that I think that I should say, lest I make a foray into politics--no doubt governments of countries award many of the grants.

I hope that "scientific" is broad enough to include "soft" sciences, such as humanities, social science, etc. But I can foresee, if this program is successful, the mandate slowly widening its scope to more and more subject matters.

Residents of the United States will, no doubt, benefit from this mandate; however, we may be one of the least likely to. Since the 16 funders are likely all European, few, if any of the OA works may be in English (I don't know if Great Britain, with the English-speaking countries of England, Scotland, Ireland, and ?, has signed on; I can't think of any other European countries with English as its official language or even as one of the official languages in a bilingual country).

01-03-2019, 10:21 PM	#1
GtrsRGr8 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,334 Karma: 27815322 Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Southeastern U.S., ya'll Device: Kindle; Kindle (10.1.1) for PC; Kindle Cloud Reader	Be On the Lookout for More Open Access Books. This is a newsy item, too, and I plan to post this or a modified version in the forum with "news" items (pending my checking the MobileRead rules to see if that kind of cross-posting is allowed). Many of you may be aware of my love for OA (Open Access) books--OA now almost universally, if not universally, means *free. I failed to see this earlier, but since September 2018 there has been an initiative in Europe, called Plan S, to "mandate immediate* open access (OA) to *scientific* literature." Sixteen funders in 13 countries have signed on, at last count. Backers of this program have greater ambitions: "to convince the world's major research funders to require immediate OA to all published papers *stemming from their grants." (Science* magazine, Jan. 4, 2019, emphases mine, G (and, yes, the date is correct)). If the works are produced under a grant, especially a government grant, I think that it is only fair that recipients of those grants make some kind of return. That's all that I think that I should say, lest I make a foray into politics--no doubt governments of countries award many of the grants. I hope that "scientific" is broad enough to include "soft" sciences, such as humanities, social science, etc. But I can foresee, if this program is successful, the mandate slowly widening its scope to more and more subject matters. Residents of the United States will, no doubt, benefit from this mandate; however, we may be one of the least likely to. Since the 16 funders are likely all European, few, if any of the OA works may be in English (I don't know if Great Britain, with the English-speaking countries of England, Scotland, Ireland, and ?, has signed on; I can't think of any other European *countries* with English as its official language or even as one of the official languages in a bilingual country). Last edited by GtrsRGr8; 01-03-2019 at 10:42 PM.